R v He; R v Li [2010] NSWDC 171

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v He; R v Li [2010] NSWDC 171

HEARING DATE(S): 9 - 12 August 2010

JUDGMENT DATE: 12 August 2010

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Murrell SC DCJ

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - Offences against the person -Kidnapping - "Advantage" - "Obtaining any other advantage"- Whether it must be an advantage to the accused - Judge alone trial - Verdict by direction

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900

Davis v R [2006] NSWCCA 392 CASES CITED: Jago v District Court of NSW (1989) 168 CLR 23 R v Manwaring [1983] 2 NSWLR 82

Regina PARTIES: Jian HE Cairong LI

FILE NUMBER(S): 2009/239849; 2009/239971

Mr L Lungo of Counsel (Crown) COUNSEL: Mr W Roser SC (Accused He) Ms M Fanning of Counsel (Accused Li)

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) SOLICITORS: Lloyd Truman Sadiq Solicitors (Accused He) Bondi Law (Accused Li)

Application for Verdict by Direction

1 At the close of the Crown case, each of the accused sought a directed verdict of not guilty.

The Original Charges

2 At the outset of the proceedings, I was satisfied that each accused had received legal advice in relation to his election to be tried by a judge alone, and the trial proceeded before me sitting as a judge alone.

3 When he was arraigned, each accused pleaded not guilty to four charges under s 86 (3) of the Crimes Act 1900. In the case of each accused, the first charge alleged that, on 16 August 2009 at Kingsgrove in the State of New South Wales, while in the company of other persons, he detained Mr C Tai without his consent and with intent to hold him to obtain an advantage, namely to influence Mr Tai not to pursue his claim for unpaid wages against PPG Investment Group Pty Ltd, and, at the time of detaining Mr Tai, actual bodily harm was occasioned to him. The second and third charges were in the same terms, except that the detainees were Mr Q Xue and Mr L Xue respectively. The fourth charge was in similar terms, except that it alleged that the accused detained Mr T Zhou with intent to influence the first three detainees not to pursue their claims for unpaid wages.